A Heart of Worship

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

As soon as Eli was cleared of any contact precautions, Paige wanted to go see him. We try to take her on the weekends, when she doesn't have school. Eli gets so excited when she comes for a visit. He lights up and loves to play with her, even from his bed. It is so fun to watch. Here are the two of them, playing peek-a-boo on Sunday.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Thursday night, I (Tanya) left Eli's
room at 9:00. He was sleeping soundly and everything was as it has been
the past few weeks. Just 12 hours later, I arrived back to his room.
Before I even entered the room, I could tell something was wrong. He was
ashy blue, not his new normal pink. He was swallowing his breaths, and
acting very full. I felt his belly. It was full, even though he hadn't
had anything in it for about 5 days. I immediately opened up his g-tube
to vent it (basically burp for him) and a bunch of air came out. That's
when he started retching and dry-heaving. He can't vomit or burp because
of his fundoplication, so it's horrible to watch. Something was wrong.
Very wrong.

The nurse had checked his vitals only two
hours before and everything appeared normal. He checked his temperature
again, and he was running a fever of 102*. Within minutes, Eli's
surgeon, a cardiologist, the ICU doctor, his nurse, and the charge nurse
were all at his bedside assessing him. Many tests and labs were
ordered, medicines prescribed, and poor Eli was just moaning and
shivering in bed.

I had been texting Jason as things were
happening, and I asked him to post up on Facebook, asking you all for
prayers. Your quick response to our request was certainly noticed, even
though I had no internet access. I couldn't see your responses here on
Facebook, but I witnessed God's answer to your prayers. Before any
medical intervention could be given, before Eli had any medicines in his
body, his color had come back, and his fever had broke. He was resting
rather comfortably in his bed. If I had walked into the room at that
moment, I would've thought nothing of it. Both nurses commented how
quickly he had turned, even without any medicine. I was able to witness
to them telling them we have a network of friends praying for Eli right
now. It's because of the power of our prayers that Eli is feeling
better.

Thank you doesn't even begin to express how
grateful I am to have your support and willingness to drop everything
and pray for my son. Many of you sent notes, texts, and even posted our
request out to your friends and prayer warriors. My eyes are full with
tears of joy because you would do that for him. Thank you for helping me
see the power of prayer, and allowing me to share it with a few others
caring for my miracle boy.

Please continue to pray. We are
still not out of this yet. They have ruled out a bunch of
possibilities, but it may take 24-48 hours to get a definitive answer,
if we can even get that. He is on a strong dose of antibiotic to stay
ahead of anything that may be there.

Our God is the Almighty Healer. I was a witness to His powerful hand today.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Surgery has come and gone, and we haven't done a very good job of keeping this blog updated, so here are the last three weeks all at once.

The surgery went long, but well. Our surgeon stated "Eli was a complete gentleman the whole time and did what he was supposed to do." We arrived at CHCC at 5:30am. At the anesthesiologist's suggestion, we gave Eli a small sedative to help with the separation and because it would also cause him to forget the events of the morning. Being a "return customer" and at the age where he will start remembering things, they felt it might be a good idea not to build associations between those hallways and the pains of surgery and recovery.

The doctor told us "in about 20-30 minutes, he's going to get a little loopy." Eli has a great sense of humor, but we've never seen him this funny. He became a limp rag doll, and started laughing at everything. It wasn't just any laugh, it was that "stoner" laugh. At one point, he slowly raised his pointed finger up to my face and very gently touched my eye. He then smiled, shook his wobbly head and said, "Noooooooo." Then he looked across the room, pointed to the wall and said "snake!" and laughed. Tanya was laughing so hard she was crying. Then Eli would see her and start cracking up himself.

During the 11 hour surgery, we left the hospital to get lunch. We went to Pismo's Grill. We were completely wiped out. Our enthusiastic waiter made the usual small talk and tried to pep us back up. He asked about our hospital admittance bracelets. They're just plain, fluorescent green, so they don't look like anything in particular. "Awesome bracelets, guys! Are those like, special bracelets? Do you get special privileges?" Tanya and I looked at each other, trying to decide how to answer. "They're for the hospital. Our son is in surgery right now." There was a long, awkward moment, and he pretty much left us alone the rest of the meal. :) Poor guy.

We continued to receive our hourly phone calls from the nurse in with Eli. Most people only have one Superior vena cava (SVC). This vein is what this Glenn surgery was all about. It is how all blue blood returns from the upper body back to the heart, so it can be pumped into the lungs to be oxygenated and turned red again. With this Glenn procedure, they detach the SVC from the heart and connect it so it travels directly to the lungs without going through the heart first. Because of this, stopping the heart and putting the patient on the bypass machine is typical. Like some people, Eli actually has two SVCs. This is one of the only breaks he's ever had his entire life. It allowed them to isolate and work on one SVC at a time, while the other maintained full function. Because of this, they never had to stop his heart and he never had to be put on the bypass machine.

We watched him being wheeled between surgery and ICU for recovery about 7:30pm. He looked very surprisingly good! Within another hour, we were able to be in the room with him. Considering what he'd been through, he honestly looked great! He had great, pink color, and everything was stable. He only had a small issue with his heart rate and JET (junctional tachycardia... out of rhythm and accelerated heart rate) for the first night, but nothing they didn't expect and nothing that didn't control itself in very short order. He was extubated after one week, and continued to make good, solid progress the following week. We give the credit to Dr. Adam Holmes. We spoke with him about trends we've seen in Eli over the last two years, especially in regards to fluid retention and extubation difficulties. Because of this, he approached Eli's care very aggressively and pro-actively. Those first two weeks were the best recovery Eli's ever had!

Just as it looked like he might actually go home after two weeks, which would be normal for a Glenn... they found a big pocket of fluid and had to put a chest tube back in. That morning, they collected over 250ml of fluid out of the left side of his chest! This boy can retain fluids like nobody's business, and this is exactly what our concerns were as we entered into this procedure. As I write this, we are at the end of our third week in recovery. Fluids continue to rise, so today, they've added a second chest tube back in. Once again, he immediately dumped more than 200ml of fluid, this time out of the right side.

As I write this, he remains in PICU... just hanging out. He's in good spirits, all things considered. He's so much stronger than we are. He's a role model patient. He's so mellow and easy going. We are able to laugh with him on occasion. The doctors comment on his incredible demeanor. The nurses fight over who gets to care for him. Everyone tells us how cute he is, and everyone who had him during his first surgery can't believe how big he's gotten. He's such a shining light in so many peoples' lives.

We'll write more, and share some pictures of these last weeks. Thank you for your patience as we find time to do so.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Just a quick update on scheduling: A slot opened up in the surgeon's schedule, so we have been moved up to August 16 for Eli's next surgery, the Glenn. While our natural reaction is to panic, we also recognize this frees us from one of our biggest concerns leading up to Eli's surgery. Paige starts school August 17th. We were extremely concerned about what her heading out into public could mean for Eli's health. Now, we need not worry. We only need to keep Eli safe for 8 more days. Because of this, we will "hunker down" into full winter isolation mode. Nobody in, nobody out, unless absolutely necessary.

See you all soon! Please continue to pray as faithfully as you all have been doing throughout this entire process.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Two years ago, Eli had his first cath lab procedure to check the pressures in his lungs and the function of his heart. This test was the first of three failed caths, proving he wasn't ready for the next phase of surgery, the Glenn Procedure. A couple weeks ago, on July 13, exactly two years since his first failed cath, we took Eli in again for another of this same cath lab procedure. The cardiology team likes to check periodically so they can gather data and better understand what Eli's heart is doing. We prepared ourselves for another failure. We were hopeful, but expecting to hear he wasn't ready...again.

We've become accustomed to this rut, this waiting game, this constant trudging through quicksand that has come to represent Eli's medical path. He should have had this Glenn Procedure two years ago, but the blood pressures in his lungs has always been too high. Last year, his numbers placed him "in range" for the Glenn, but the cardiology team agreed it was simply too high risk. His numbers were simply TOO marginal.

This year, he's still marginal, but better than ever before. The cardiology team doesn't feel his numbers will get any better, and believes now is finally the time to proceed with the Glenn. Eli will finally have his second of three open heart surgeries. We've waited two years to be able to say this. Now that it's here, it's scarier than we might have imagined.

Eli is scheduled for his Glenn on September 13, but we are also on the "short list" for any opening in the coming two weeks. Our surgeon leaves the country in the second half of August, and our cardiologist leaves the country in the beginning of September. If we don't fall into an opened schedule by somewhere around August 10, we know we will be on hold all the way out to September 13. Either way, within the next six weeks, Eli will head in for his second major surgery.

Eli is on the verge of walking by himself. He walks with a single finger's support for balance now. He cruises furniture as fast as any kid. His language is finally exploding. He's picking up new words all the time, and his speech improves with each day. He's an absolute ball of happiness, always smiling, laughing and spreading joy everywhere he goes. He's grown from the feeble baby into quite the amazing little boy.

On February 20, 2009, we handed over a 2 day old sedated baby who we'd never seen with open eyes or without a breathing tube. While this was no easy task, it doesn't begin to compare to the thought of giving the surgeons our 2 1/2 year old son who speaks, lives and loves with us.

The day we'd begun to think would never come... has finally come. Eli is heading in for his second open heart surgery. As supportive as you all have already been, we're going to start leaning on all of you for that support again. To all our prayer warriors, you've been so faithful for so long. Please join us again as we place in God a trust as we never have before.

Here's our most recent picture of Eli, sitting in Pre-Op before his cath lab.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Today, Paige got her first bicycle! We went to Toys-R-Us and she rode all the bikes in her size. She decided on a purple bike with flowers and a pink seat. We took the bike home, put it together, and she was immediately off on her first adventure. Before the bike was even complete, she was asking to ride to her friend Kaylynn's house, because she had written her a letter and wanted to deliver it. Here's a short photo journal of our afternoon.

Paige and Daddy building her new bike.

Paige helped with the seat...

...and the purple pedals!

Once assembled and tires aired up, outside we went! This is Paige hopping up on the bike for the first time.

And we're off!

It was a little chilly outside today, so Mommy helped her with her vest.

Then we were off to Kaylynn's.

Bye bye, little girl.

Paige and Kaylynn were very excited to see each other. In fact, Kaylynn had also written a letter for Paige!

Then Kaylynn picked a flower from the garden, and sent it home with Paige.

Headed back home.

As she became more comfortable on the new bike, she began to ride faster and faster. Look at those handlebar tassles fly!